Duality Of Puritan Society In The Scarlet Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne

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Nathaniel Hawthorne as a Romantic author uses his novel to push forward his new idea of Romanticism and how society should break away from the hypocritical Puritan lifestyle. Throughout the novel The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne criticizes the duality of Puritan society through the character of Arthur Dimmesdale by contrasting his public image to his perception of himself. While Dimmesdale is presented as a true and pure minister during the first scaffold scene, Hawthorne uses different types of irony to show Dimmesdale’s hypocrisy. Reverend John Wilson calls upon Dimmesdale to the join Hester in the scaffold and “exhort her to confess the truth” about the identity of Pearl’s father (Hawthorne 74). Dimmesdale explains to Hester that …show more content…
During sermons, Dimmesdale tells the audience “he was altogether vile, a viler companion of the vilest, the worst of sinners, an abomination, a thing of unimaginable iniquity” (Hawthorne 150). Dimmesdale’s inability to name the sin he’s commited shows how deeply he cares about his reputation and expresses how much of a coward he is. However, instead of seeing this as a confession of adultery or an act of cowardice, the audience might see this as Dimmesdale’s Puritan belief that everyone, including him, is born with sin. Without mentioning the sin that he’s committed, Dimmesdale’s attempted confession appears as “proof, of the minister's humility and piety” (Pimple 260). As an effect, Dimmesdale’s reputation improves while his guilty conscience gets stronger. Ultimately, Dimmesdale’s ambiguousness remains with him even in his final moments. He gets on the scaffold and claims “It was on him!...he hid it cunningly from men, and walked among you...mournful, because so pure in a sinful world...he bids you look again at Hester’s scarlet letter!...it is but the shadow of what he bears on his own breast” (Hawthorne 262). Since Dimmesdale refers to himself in third person, it is confusing to figure out who he’s referring to. Not only that, it demonstrates his efforts to disassociate himself from his confession, which makes his confession less effective and portrays himself as a coward. In fact, he never straightforwardly admits that he committed adultery with Hester or that he’s the father of Pearl. As a result of Dimmesdale’s vague confession, the audience is left to analyze the symbol that Dimmesdale reveals, which takes away from the confession
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